It Came from the Shad'O Realm
by hydraex2
Summary: Fionna and Cake find another human... my OC. First fanfic- please review! It would make me happy to get feedback on my writing style. Rated T for excessive cursing and violence. LOTS of violence.
1. Ch 1 The Portal

**A/N: This is my first story, so cut me some slack, okay? But not too much, I thrive off any reviews you give me. This author's note is written long after this chapter, so I can tell you guys that my writing improves drastically as you go along. I think with Chapter 7 I'm at or _just_ below my usual standards. Anyways, enjoy, review (especially review), and... do some third thing. Whatever.**

The Portal

Just a normal day in the land of Aaa. Clear blue skies, bright shining sun, and still blue waters. In a valley near a mountain range, a boy on fire and a human girl were standing next to a giant heap of burning wood (or really anything at least slightly flammable). The girl was wearing a bunny themed hat, which exposed one blond lock of hair. She had on blue clothing and a green backpack. The boy was completely made of fire, with a ruby in his chest and in his boots.

"Thanks for helping me build my new house, Fionna. It's pretty rad." Flame Prince said.

"No problem dude. I'll see you later." Fionna answered, smiling. "Come on, Cake!" she called. A white cat with coffee- brown spots came up.

"So, how'd your date go?" Cake asked.

"It's not a date! I told you Flame Prince and I are JUST BROS." Fionna replied, her cheeks blushing a little.

"Riiiiiiiiiight…" Cake replied, but she didn't pursue the subject. As the two adventuresses walked home, they started talking about what they should do with their day, when suddenly, with a loud sucking noise a portal appeared before them. It was pure black and appeared to be swirling slightly. When they looked at it, they felt fear course through their veins, but they were adventurers, and were used to fear and shrugged it off.

"Whoa!" they both said in unison.

"That portal looks totally mathematical! We should like jump in and explore it and stuff!" Fionna yelled excitedly.

"Yeah!" Cake agreed, and they jumped in the portal. On the other side, it was pitch black. Everything was thrown into total and complete darkness. Not a shred of light existed here, and the girls, even though they were actually touching, couldn't see each other. The darkness was… all consuming, almost… alive. It was enough to scare even the bravest of heroes. (Or, in this case, heroines.)

"Le-let's go back!" Cake said shakily.

"Ye-yeah…" Fionna agreed, and they jumped backwards, thankfully going back through the portal. They both looked shaken and scared as they lay on the ground. They laid there for a minute or too, feeling the warmth and light of the sun.

"Hey Cake, we should like get Flame Prince and the other guys and go back through there!" There's probably some pretty cool junk just WAITING to be found in that place." Fionna said excitedly. "It would be totally RIGHTEOUS!"

And so the girls went to gather up their friends. Would they regret this moment or thank glob for it in years to come. Probably both.

-The Next Day-

Fionna and Cake stood before the portal, this time with some of their friends. Flame Prince was there, as was a guy who had pink skin, hair, and clothes, and amazingly protested that he WASN'T gay. Shocker, am I right? The other guy was floating and holding an umbrella to shield him from the sun. His skin looked like it hadn't seen sunlight for a thousand years, which was probably healthy considering the bite marks on his neck that denoted him as a vampire. The pink guy (that REALLY makes it sound like he's gay…) walked up to the portal and looked at it. "Prince Gumball, what are you doing?" Fionna asked.

"Trying to see if I recognize the portal…" he muttered deep in concentration.

"Wellllll… do you?" Fionna asked impatiently.

Gumball thought for a second, then said "It mi-"

"Can we get on with it?" Marshall Lee the Vampire King asked, rudely interrupting Prince Gumball. "I mean come on. It's a portal. It leads somewhere. Is anything else really necessary?" Marshall asked impatiently.

"Yeah he's right!" Fionna yelled. "Too much talking, not enough action!" (AN: Amen sister!) With that she jumped straight into the portal, leaving the others to follow her. Once they were all through the only source of light was Flame Prince. They all looked around curiously at walls and the floor thrown into focus. It looked like a temple of some sorts from all the carvings, and Prince Gumball identified the stone as sandstone.

"Think we should press on?" Fionna asked. Before anyone could agree, a gust of wind swept through the room, chilling them all to the bone. A hissing noise was heard from the distance, and it seemed to come from every direction. The adventurous party did not know it, but that was their first and last warning.

"Fionna, this place is creeping me out!" Cake said, shaking with fear and clinging to Fionna's leg. Just then another hissing noise, louder this time, came from all directions. Bright white eyes appeared. Fionna drew her sword. Marshall took out his axe bass. Flame Prince made fireballs appear in his hands. Cake, obviously scared but trying to be brave, extended her claws. Prince Gumball just hid behind his much tougher friends. Suddenly a small black creature stepped out of the shadows. Actually it seemed to bring the shadows with it, as the creature was made out of darkness. The creature silently charged at Fionna, who swung her sword straight through it, killing it immediately. Suddenly the shadows seemed to withdraw reluctantly, as if ordered away. A path out of the room opened up. Our intrepid heroes walked through this path down a hall, encountering no more shadows, just strange symbols on the wall. Fionna's foot hit something. She picked it up and discovered it was a leather- bound book. When she opened it, she saw a very detailed picture of a large dragon, along with descriptions of just about everything there is to know about the beast.

"There's a bookmark." Said Gumball, pointing to a bookmark halfway in. Fionna opened it to that page and saw the words Darkness Incarnate in big, bold letters along the top. There was a picture of the creature Fionna had killed. It was described as very weak, but it said it was dangerous en masse. There was a picture of a gargoyle, which said Dark Minion. It was described as "offering some resistance, but still only truly dangerous en masse. Then was a picture of a large hooded, winged man, labeled Sentinel. All that was said about it was "Incredibly dangerous. Can kill 20 men with ease. KEEP MOVING." Then afterward it said The Crawler. "King of Shadows, Lord of Fear, Bane of Civilization. You see this, you're probably screwed anyway."

Fionna turned the page and saw a hastily written message. "Over 1000 men dead since start of expedition. I am the only one left I have attempted to open a portal. If I am dragged away before it opens, then I shall throw this in the hallway before the Throne Room. If found then continue down this hallway at your own peril. If you feel you cannot, do not. If you feel you can RESCUE ME."

"Whoa…" Fionna said. All of the others, who had been reading over her shoulder, looked shocked. Fionna held her sword up and said "Let's go save him!" Fionna yelled, and started to charge when she realized that her friends did not seem to want to charge into battle. "Uuuuh guys? What are you waiting for? Come on!" She said.

"That looks like some pretty serious evil…" said Marshall Lee. "I mean he says these guys killed a thousand men on their expedition! One THOUSAND trained warriors. And this 'Throne Room' is surely the center of his power." Fionna seemed to consider it for a moment, her cocky, bold grin faded slightly as the rest nodded assent.

"So are we going to leave him to die?" Fionna asked quietly. "He sent out a cry for help and-"

"Oh no…" Cake muttered quietly.

"-I promised to help anyone in need, no matter how small the problem. And this seems like a pretty big problem, if you ask me." Fionna finished, ignoring Cake. Flame Prince set his jaw and stared ahead, Marshall looked a little worried (an extremely odd look for him, he usually isn't like this), Prince Gumball looked scared, and Cake just looked annoyed. Without another word she charged off into the shadows, leaving her friends, once again, to follow her. When they reached the Throne Room, they were shocked. Visibility was better here, and they could see beyond Flame Prince's light. At the end of the room, in lieu of a throne, there was a pool of darkness. Tendrils of what appeared to be liquid darkness snaked around the body of a man, a human, and into his eyes and mouth. Instead of guards, there were statues of Sentinels and Dark Minions everywhere. It seemed… too easy.

"Well… that must be him." Fionna said quietly.

"Yeah." Said Flame Prince.

The band walked up to the man, and Fionna just took out her sword and hacked at a tendril. All of the tendrils receded immediately and the man collapsed to the floor, gasping like a fish.

"Thank you…" he muttered once he had caught his breath.

Then came a voice out of the shadows that chilled them all and sent pure fear coursing through their veins.

AN: Ohhhhhh scary? Maybe…. Not my best work, but this IS my first fanfic, so leave some constructive criticism (keyword being constructive). I promise it'll get a little quicker paced (and better quality, I know this sucks); there'll be lots of action next chapter. Also, I can't pick a name for this guy. DX Writer's block why?

Peace out

-Hydraex2


	2. Ch 2 Quinterus

**A/N: Ok, finally got 'round to writing this. Also. OMG. I have a follower! :D**

**Me: I feel special.**

**Quinterus: Yeah, you're special all right.**

**Me: Hey! That is not- WAIT! NO SPOILERS! GET OUTTA HERE!**

**Anyway, credits go to my best friend William for the name of the OC.**

**What was I saying? Oh yeah! Follower. DarkLord990. You rock. Great story by the way.**

**Quinterus: And his OC has a lovely, eloquent name too!**

**Me: Hey don't be sarcastic like that, it's mea- HEY! I SAID GET OUTTA HERE!**

**Me: ANYWHO, on with the story. Wait! I forgot to mention that credit for Darkness Incarnate goes to Lionhead Studios, makers of Fable 3. Not the best game, but I took the Darkness Incarnate stuff, changed it for dramatic purposes, and put in my story.**

Quinterus

The man looked scared at the voice, his eyes widened, exposing dark circles under his eyes and an unshaven, haggard face. His hair was overgrown and his eyes… appeared to be missing. Instead of eyes there were just black spots, like empty eye sockets. He looked around as if blind. "The Crawler." He hissed.

Everyone seemed wary. Gumball was cowering, Flame Prince was trying to glow brighter to see farther into the darkness, and Marshall was looking for the source of the noise. Fionna had eyes only for the human. Was this really another human? Was she really not the only one left? And where had he come from? A million thoughts and questions ran through her mind. But she had to be sure. "Are you… human?" Fionna asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "My name is Quinterus." Quinterus then proceeded to stand and reach out, and said "I can't see." He seemed to be annoyed at this and then asked, "Can I have my journal back? I have a cure to this blindness thing written down in there."

"Ok…" Fionna said, a little mystified.

"What?" Quint asked, now mystified himself.

"You just said you couldn't see…" Fionna said.

"Fine. Here. It's right before the Darkness Incarnate page." Quint said, annoyed. Fionna opened it, looked at the steps, and handed it to Prince Gumball and told him to read it. He seemed to be interested in the page.

"Sooo… sunlight is the best cure. The second best cure is fire… in the person's eyes!?" Gumball asked, shrieking a little at the end.

"Uhhh… I don't remember writing that fire thi-" Quint began until he was cut off by Flame Prince shooting two mini fireballs into his eyes. "ARGHHHH! IT BURNS!" He screamed.

"Oh my glob!" screamed Fionna, panicking. She was just angrily turning to Flame Prince when Quint interjected.

"Hey I can see again! Awesome!" Quint said excitedly. He glanced around, then walked over to a knife on the ground and stuck it in his belt. Then he found a tomahawk (it's the axe that Native Americans used, or assassins in Assassin's Creed 3. Basically an axe, but it has most of the center missiong to be lighter. Then he walks up and pick what looks to be an exceedingly large crossbow and a case that is about the size of his two hands. The "crossbow" is folded in half, revealing a tiny hole in the side that bolts come out of. When he picks it up and flips it so it unfolds, it becomes clear that the hole on the other end is larger. Noticing their questioning glances, he informed them "It's a Bowgun. I designed it myself. It's used for killing big things. Now let's get out of here before we all die excruciatingly painful deaths."

Before they could take more than a step, scores of the little shadow guys appeared. "It's starting!" Quint yelled, "Kill 'em all!"

The adventurers all fought bravely. Fionna fought with her sword, Cake with her claws, Prince Gumball with an electro gun, Marshall Lee with his famed Axe Bass, Flame Prince with massive fireballs, and Quint with his axe. The creatures were so weak that it was more of a slaughter- fest than an actual battle. Then some of the creatures withdrew, about a dozen of them, and flew into the statues of the Dark Minions. The Dark Minions, now animated, jumped off their pedestals and started to attack. "The chest is their weak point." Quint advised. In the heat of the battle, Fionna, Marshall, and Quint were doing significantly better than Cake, Prince Gumball, and Flame Prince, largely due to stone's high amount of resistance to fire, electrical shocks, and claws. Cake did better once she started punching them, but the two Princes were fairly useless in this fight.

After all the dark minions had been shattered to pieces, a Sentinel stepped off its pedestal. "Keep moving! You have to keep moving!" Quint yelled as he put his axe in his belt and took his Bowgun off his back. Fionna immediately charged at the monster, sword raised high for a death blow, only to be knocked out of the air at the last second by the Sentinel's arm. Cake then tried to run up to it to punch it but had to dodge a fierce volley of axe strikes from the Sentinel. Then Quint's bullet hit the Sentinel square in the face, and then another one hit his shoulder. Quint was standing there, shoulders squared, blasting away at the Sentinel. "His shoulders are weak!" Quint yelled. Just then Marshall Lee jumped from above and sliced off one of the Sentinel's arms with his large axe bass. This distracted it enough so that Fionna could jump up and stab it in the shoulder, which Quint then shot, destroying it. Then the whole gang just whaled on the defenseless Sentinel. IT crumbled into nothing more than a pile of rubble.

"Come on." Quint said grimly. "This was just the first wave. They won't stop until they've defeated us. Where's the portal you guys came through?"

"Follow me." Fionna said, coming back the way they came. Just then, as she turned around, she came face to face with the most hideous, creepy face she had ever seen. It had sharp teeth and empty eye sockets. It looked like it was three faces in one and it was horribly misshapen and pale. (**A/N: If you want a picture just type "the crawler fable 3" into Google Images**). Fionna screamed and it vanished.

From the shadows, a deep, rasping voice came. "The light you bring will die. The light inside you will die. All that you are will die." Everyone was stunned except Quint.

He narrowed his eyes and said "Keep moving." They continued along the long throne room (had it grown longer?) and kept looking for the source of the noise. "The Crawler is trying to scare us. It's his specialty. His biggest ambition is to destroy the world and coat it in eternal darkness. He kills ruthlessly and seems to enjoy torturing people both physically and psychologically- if he actually he feels emotion."

Suddenly more of the small creatures appeared en masse and attacked them. "More?!" Fionna cried, "How many are there?"

"Who knows?" Quint replied, hacking away at the small creatures. They posed no threat and soon the party was walking toward the exit, albeit much more wary now.

"Darkness will swallow you whole!" the Crawler yelled agitated. "The Children are unhappy!"

"Run!" Quint yelled, now sounding scared. They sprinted to the other end of the throne room and into the hall, sprinting until Quint stopped them at the point where he dropped his journal. "Can I have my journal back?" He asked. Gumball handed it to him. He flipped open to the page with his distress call, and then turned the page to reveal the symbols on the wall with writing underneath them. He looked at the wall and copied more of the symbols.

A gust of cold wind swept through the hall, chilling them all. "Can we go?" Fionna asked.

"Wait. This is important." Quint said. He was finished copying symbols and was now translating the symbols. He was on the last group when he looked at what he wrote and appeared shocked. He furiously scribbled out the line and the symbols. "Let's go." He said, clearly shaken.

"What is it?" Fionna asked. Quint didn't answer and instead walked towards the portal at a quick pace, only to be stopped by a Sentinel at the end of the hall. Wasting no time, he loaded some shells into his Bowgun, and fired 3 shots at the Sentinel. Two hit his shoulders and one hit his chest, and each one was highly explosive. The Sentinel staggered back and fell over, where Fionna and Marshall Lee came over and beat it down until it shattered. Then the whole party started jumping through the portal and back into the Land of Aaa.

**A/N: Not so bad right? Anyways, it isn't ALL going to be this dark. Some of it will be more light- hearted and funny, and I'll kinda have versions of the normal AT episodes (None of which I own) except in Aaa with Quint. And somewhere down the line I'll put Ooo in, when it suits me. I meant to have this up Saturday, but at 4:00 in the morning I decide my ability to write was severely impaired.**

**Peace out**

**-Hydraex2**


	3. Ch 3 Moving into Aaa

**A/N: Well, here it is. Still no reviews, but about 50 different people have read this. C'mon people! Pleeeeeeaaaaasssee? I like reviews! Anyhow, I don't have that much to say here, except that this is definitely going to get better. Slow start? REVIEW! …Please?**

**P.S. This took so long due to chronic laziness/homework/distraction.**

**Moving in to Aaa**

** "**It's nice here but… where is here?" Quinterus asked.

"You're in the Land of Aaa, an island continent bordered by-" Gumball started, only to be cut off by Quint.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't need to know the seas bordering it or whatever. I can use the stars for that." Quint said impatiently. "I'm starved. Literally. Anyone got food?" Fionna searched her pack and shook her head.

"Our house isn't too far from here." Fionna suggested. "And we have food there. Come on!"

"Ok." Quint agreed, and followed her. Cake started walking next to Fionna, and Flame Prince, Marshall Lee, and Prince Gumball all went their separate ways to their homes. Fionna and Cake made their way to their tree house, lit like a bastion against the darkness, with Quint in tow.

"Why'd you build your house in a tree?" Quint asked, raising an eyebrow. "'Cause that's pretty cool. Personally I prefer the ocean, though."

"I don't." Fionna replied flatly.

"Because you're scaaaaared?" Cake asked, smiling.

"You're afraid of the ocean?" Quint asked, mirth evident in his voice. "Wow."

"Shut up!" Fionna said, and then yelled "I FEAR NOTHING!" to the skies, holding her fist up dramatically.

"Except the ocean." Cake said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Fionna went red faced and mumbled something mostly indistinct (it sounded a little like she was saying Cake was NOT a big help for that fear). Quint just grinned the whole time.

"So…" Quint said, obviously unsure of himself, "What… um… species live here? In Aaa?" Quint finished.

"Tons!" Fionna said. "Don't you have lots of different species where you come from?" Fionna asked.

"Sure, just asking. There aren't any fire people or… was that guy a candy person? Anyway, none of that where I come from."

"What about vampires?" Fionna asked, "'Cause Marshall Lee is one. He's the guy with the big axe."

"I could tell. Normal people don't float. I also saw the bite marks." Quint said. "And to answer your question, yes there are vampires where I come from, but they're a… dwindling population." Quint finished uneasily.

"What? Why?" Fionna asked curiously, furrowing her brow.

"Well, you see, I hunt monsters, and I mean massive ones, for a living. We monster hunters have a guild that we all work with. Anyway, there's this one creepy guy in the guild, and he insisted upon a vampire killing branch. So… he and his followers go out and kill vampires." Quint explained, then muttered "Glob, I can't stand that guy…"

"Oh." Fionna said. "We have big monsters here too. I'm an adventurer and a hero, so I fight to protect the innocent. I'll slay anything that's evil. That's my deal."

"Cool." Quint said. "Vigilante style!" He said dramatically.

They finally arrived at the tree fort. It was (rather oddly) all lit up, standing like a lone fortress against the darkness, like a lonely rock out in the raging sea. There were all sorts of odd things sticking out of the tree house, a boat, a shed, random furniture. They walked up to the door and Quint was stunned by the amount of gold they had in their foyer (**A/N: That's like an entrance room or whatever.**) but didn't comment on it. He had made quite a bit of money hunting dangerous game, but that money was all well spent (on what remains to be seen). They climbed (Clumb? Clambered?) up the ladder and Quint looked around. It looked like a regular living room, except for a video game console that had… arms and legs?

_What?_ Quint thought, confused. _I've never seen one of those FUNCTIONAL, let alone walking and-_

His thoughts were cut short by the little video game greeting them. "Quint, this is BMO." Cake said.

"'Sup?" Quint greeted, customary grin on his face. "Now you got anything to eat? I'm starved! Please!" He asked, his voice getting a little pleading at the end. Fionna rummaged around in the fridge and pulled out some cold spaghetti.

"Score!" They both said in unison, their fists rose in triumph. Quint grinned. Fionna heated up the spaghetti and the three of them sat at the little table in the kitchen and ate. Fionna finished first, mainly because Quint was practically eating them out of house and home. She barraged him with questions, which he answered between swallows.

"Are there other humans where you come from? Where do you come from? And why are you still alive after the Shadow Realm? And what were you doing there in the first place?" Fionna asked rapid-fire.

Quint, who was mid-bite, raised both his eyebrows and made a grunting sound. After he swallowed he started to answer. "Let's see, yes there are humans, and I come from a village that's built entirely on a dock, it doesn't really have a name but there are lots of monster hunters there. As for the Shadow Realm, I was leading an expedition there to eradicate Tenebris Incarnati, or Darkness Incarnate. Killing The Crawler it seems, unfortunately, is an impossible task. You do not need sustenance in the Shadow Realm, no food or water, and I believe you do not age. Why I was spared by The Crawler, is unknown, as it is a being incapable of any empathy in the slightest." Quint said, going back to the food.

After they were all done, Quint looked embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck and asked "Is it alright if I crash here tonight? I'm kinda new to this place, so…"

"Of course!" Cake exclaimed happily. "Our doors are open to all in need!" She said excitedly.

"Thanks." Quint said. "I'll set myself up with something better tomorrow." Quint yawned and lay on the couch.

"Good night!" Cake said, ever the overly excited host.

"Whoa…" Fionna said "I'm not the last human anymore Cake! This is great!" She exclaimed happily. "Now there's another one, and there are others where he comes from! Shmowzow!"

The two girls settled off into sleep, not knowing what the next day set in store for them.

**A/N: Sorry this is shorter than usual, but my chronic laziness caused it to be late and I wanted to put SOMETHING up. Anyway, next chapter will hopefully be up tomorrow or Tuesday.**

**Peace out**

** -Hydraex2**


	4. Ch 4 Moving into Aaa Part 2

**A/N: I noticed a little mistake on my last chapter, when I typed that "tomorrow" meant Monday, but I posted it after midnight. Seeing as this is typed before I finish (before I even start) I dunno if it will be up Monday or Tuesday. But that's irrelevant seeing as you guys will know, so… here goes! (P.S. This was meant to be part of last chapter, but…)**

**Moving in to Aaa Part 2**

After an uneasy sleep, only allowed by sheer exhaustion, Quint woke up and yawned as the past nights events rubbed over him. He shivered. He walked in the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He looked up at the mirror and couldn't help but utter a rather loud, wordless cry of surprise. He slapped his hand over his mouth immediately afterward, not wanting to wake his rather gracious hosts. He seemed to notice at this point that his once short, spiky blond hair was now pitch black and significantly longer. He took out his knife and corrected that second problem. He then thoroughly examined himself. His blue-green eyes were now much darker, even black in some places. He had stubble growing on his chin and some peach fuzz on his lip. He corrected that, too. He then leaned back and saw his skin had lost some of its tan, but it wasn't nearly as changed as his face.

Quint was 19 years old when he entered the Shadow Realm, the lair of Tenebris Incarnati, and he hadn't aged a day. Except his eyes. They seemed to reflect a lot of misery, more than he had gained in the Shadow Realm. He was well built due to a dangerous and difficult profession, but he had obviously not been able to exercise in a while. He was built lighter, but strength was evident in his body, and he did not look like someone to mess with. His skin was paled, but you could still tell that he had a deep tan from a long time of working in more tropical regions of the world.

Just as he had finished checking himself to make sure he wasn't surprised again, he heard Cake knock and ask if he was alright.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just startled." He said, walking out of the bathroom. Then he apologetically said "Sorry for waking you up."

"It's fine." Cake assured him, then went and started making bacon pancakes in the kitchen. Quint just marveled at the tree house, which had lots of strange things in it, things he had never seen before. He walked into the kitchen to see Fionna and Cake eating their breakfast, with another stack lying to the side, untouched. Quint sat down and started eating. No sooner had they finished breakfast was there a knock on the door. The trio went to investigate. They opened the door to find Peppermint Maid standing there with an official looking letter. _Man, so they ARE candy people. _Quint thought. _Good thing I already ate._

"Gumball wants us." Fionna said, reading the letter. "He's concerned for your health, Quint."

"How nice." Quint replied. Cake grew to a big size and Fionna hopped onto her back. Quint's eyes just widened. "I am SO jealous!" he said, jumping onto Cake's back. Cake just smirked and ran for the Candy Kingdom (much to the annoyance of the forgotten Peppermint Maid). Cake went straight through the candy gates, along the candy street, and up to the candy… ok, you get the point. It's candy. 'Nuff said. When they got to the castle, Cake shrunk to normal size and Fionna led them up to Prince Gumball's lab. When they arrived Prince Gumball greeted Fionna and Cake, then suck out his hand to Quint. "I'm Prince Gumball, sorry we couldn't get properly acquainted last night, but we were all exhausted."

Quint took his hand and shook it, and introduced himself "I'm Quinterus. Call me Quint."

For the next half hour, Prince Gumball made random chatter about chemistry (which nobody understood) while doing various tests to Quint. Finally PG, realizing that nobody understood a word he was saying, began talking about anatomy, a conversation that still left Fionna and Cake dumbfounded, but Quint seemed happy to talk about. Eventually PG stopped testing when Quint brought out his journal and showed him some of the monsters he normally fought. Eventually Fionna got bored and interrupted "You all done PG? Because this is kinda boring…"

"Yeah." agreed Quint. "Let's cut to the chase. How long have I got to live, Doc?"

PG sighed and said "You're not dying, and as far as I can tell you're perfectly healthy."

"'Kay bye!" Quint called, already walking out the door. They left the castle and Quint asked Cake to take him to the ocean, so he could build some sort of a house. Cake obliged and the trio was soon at the ocean, standing on a rock some 50 yards out to sea, and about 20 yards above it. For amusement, Quint grabbed Fionna and faked pushing her into the water, pulling her back at the last second, to which Fionna freaked out and started beating him up. After Fionna stopped, she looked away, still mad, and asked Cake to stretch them off this rock.

"You guys go. I want to build my house here. See you all later." Quint said as Fionna hopped on Cake's back. By nightfall, Quint had erected a simple shack and bed. He went to sleep after a dinner of fish, ready to see what life in Aaa would be like now that he had his own place, and was all settled in.

**A/N: Well, that's the other half to the last chapter. I really should get some sleep now, for school tomorrow. It's so short because this was supposed to be in the last chapter, but I didn't get it in time. Now I need to seriously go to sleep, so please review and stuff, new chapter by Friday at the latest, depending on my homework situation. Also! You guys get to vote on what pairing Fionna gets (I only make jokes about homosexuality, I don't actually write about it. So none of that please.). If you even review AT ALL, that is. T.T**

**Peace out**

**-hydraex2**


	5. Ch 5 The I Scream Man

**A/N: I've had a bad week. I need sleep. Sorry you guys.**

**Ptrip3: Thanks for reviewing, first of all, and at this rate 10,000 words is going to be very soon, followed shortly by ten chapters. Yes I do know that it's a dark story, but it's going to be more light-hearted this chapter. However the overall thing is dark by its very definition and the main plot will be more dark and sad. But right now I'm doing some "episodes", which are more light-hearted. Basically just Quint in the Land of Aaa.**

**That was rambling. I didn't even plan to put anything but a smiley… I better stop now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time or The Crawler or (Darkness Incarnate itself really). The last two are changed pretty majorly for dramatic effect. But I do own Quint. No stealing unless you ask me first (of course I'd be honored if someone wanted to use my OC).**

**Quinterus: Du-**

**Me: NO! ON WITH THE FREAKING STORY! SHUT UP I NEED TO STOP RAMBLING!**

**The I Scream Man**

Over the next week Quint built up his home and explored the Land of Aaa. By week's end he was well acquainted with many residents of Aaa and he could call his house a home. At the end of the week Prince Gumball reported some shocking news.

"What? Really?" Quint said, hope shining on his face.

"Yes. You and Fionna are biological siblings."

"Wow… have you told her?"

"I'm about to. You can expect her to drop by tomorrow. Good night."

Indeed night was falling, so Quint dived into the ocean and swam out to the rock that he built his home on. He loved swimming; it truly set him at peace. He also was trying to get back in shape after the Shadow Realm. He climbed up the rock, which was fortunately had many ridges on the side facing land. _At some point, _Quint thought _I should set up steps._

When he reached the top he stood silent for a minute to marvel at the sunset, and took that opportunity to wonder over the news. His biological sister? He hadn't had family in a long time. He was ready to try again.

In the morning, Quint studied his hair. It seemed to be resuming its original blond color, slowly but surely. He grinned, glad that the traces of his imprisonment were beginning to fade. The darkness in his eyes stayed. Quint doubted that would ever change and thus put worry about them out of his mind.

He looked over to the cliff next to his house and saw a lone figure: Fionna. He looked at the beach next to her, gritted his teeth, and jumped in the water. He swan dived in, and swam towards that beach. Fionna was waiting for him there (she walked, obviously).

Quint came out of the water and spit on the sand a couple of times, then walked up to Fionna and grinned. Fionna smiled as well and said "So… I guess we're siblings."

"Yep."

"So… did you know your- our parents? Our real, biological ones?" Fionna asked. She had been holding it in ever since she heard from Gumball that she had a brother.

Quint's chest fell. He had seriously been hoping that Fionna hadn't been adopted like him. He was also a little relieved. I mean, what would he say to them? Mainly he'd just ask why he was abandoned. Fionna saw his chest fall and his eyes show defeat, and knew Quint's answer before he said it.

"No. I was adopted." Quint said flatly. "But hey, we got each other, right?" He said, cheerfulness returning to his voice. It was more family than he had had before.

Fionna obviously felt the same way. "You wanna go get some ice scream or something? Cake says that's always a good way to get to know someone."

"Sure. Lead the way." Fionna did just that, and along the way they chatted. They arrived at the candy kingdom, and Fionna led the way into an ice cream parlor. They walked in, but noticed that one important thing was missing.

People.

Quint and Fionna hopped over the bar to investigate, and found a note on the floor.

"Ominous." Quint said. "Let's see… this note is just scribbles. Great." He looked a little frustrated.

"It's mystery time!" Fionna whisper-yelled, holding out her fist. Quint didn't quite seem to get it, and just looked at the fist, then at Fionna with one eyebrow raised questioningly.

"You're supposed to pound it." Fionna whispered.

"Oh. Right." Quint fist pounding her fist. (Little Mystery Time thingy pops up). "Anyway, let's take a look around. Maybe there'll be some clues."

"Ok."

They searched the entire place, opening cabinets, upturning random pots and pans that shouldn't even be in an ice cream parlor, checking under tables. And, in the case of Quint, stealing some ice cream while Fionna wasn't looking. Suddenly he saw a glint. He walked over to it, and saw a… shard of ice? He couldn't make sense of it, until Fionna walked over.

"Ice Queen." Fionna said. "She's an old ice-witch-cougar-lady. She's always kidnapping princes to try and make them marry her."

"Creeper."

"Yeah. But Cake and I always save them. We're the heroes around these parts!" Fionna said, excitedly yelling near the end.

"So… where does the Ice Queen live? I think it's reasonable to assume she might know something."

"C'mon!" Fionna yelled, charging out the door and the Candy Kingdom, with Quint in tow. They came to the Ice Kingdom rather quickly. They charged on to the residence of the Ice Queen. At the front door, Fionna put a finger up to her lips and grinned mischievously. She whispered something in to Quint's ear, and the more she talked, the wider his grin grew. Fionna hid behind some trash cans, while Quint knocked.

Ice Queen emerged, shrieking "WHO DARES TO TRES-"then stopped abruptly when she saw Quint. "Oooh a new prince I see?" Ice Queen shrieked (less loudly, she kinda has a shriek voice is why I say this. Assume from now on if she talks, it's all shrill, unless otherwise specified) happily.

"Nah. I'm a full blown single KING." Quint said, flexing, trying immensely hard to suppress a grin. Fionna suddenly jumped out from behind the trash cans and punched off her tiara, yelling "SNEAK ATTACK!" The tiara flew way off into the snow.

"Fionna! Why are you always ice-blocking my dudes?! I didn't even capture this one!" Ice Queen shrieked angrily (jeez, she shrieks A LOT). At that moment Quint burst out laughing, as did Fionna. Ice Queen seemed at a loss for words as she realized it was all a prank.

"Okay, okay. Down to business." Quint finally said, controlling his laughter, but not his grin.

"What'd you do with the Ice Cream Man?" Fionna yelled.

"Nothing!" Ice Queen said indignantly.

"Oh really?" Quint asked, doubt clear in his voice, while walking into her home. He looked at the cell, only to find none other than… Prince Gumball. "Oh hey Bubba. 'Sup?" Quint asked casually.

"Oh you know. Chillin'." Bubba replied equally casually. Quint groaned and shook his head. He walked up to the cage, then used one of the edges of his Bowgun (seriously, this thing is heavy) to smash off the lock while Fionna walked in behind him.

"No Ice Cream Man?" Fionna asked.

"Nope." Quint said. "I think we might have overreacted about the shard of ice. Probably was just from his freezer."

"Ugh." Fionna said, clearly annoyed.

And so the two siblings searched all over the land of Aaa in search of the Ice Cream Man. Eventually they simply retreated to Fionna's house. They sat on the couch, defeated on the matter. BMO walked over to them.

"Hey guys. What's up?" BMO asked.

"We've been trying to solve a mystery all day. And we got nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Absolutely nowhere." Quint said dejectedly.

"Fill me in on the details." BMO demanded, his voice becoming more detective-like. Quint obliged, and recapped the day. Soon BMO was on the case, interrogating all of the animals in the tree fort and outwitting cops. Fionna and Quint just chilled out, oblivious to this.

"You know, Cake was right. This was a _great_ way to get to know each other. I haven't had a sister in a long time. I'd forgotten what it felt like." Quint said, now sounding satisfied. "Speaking of Cake, where is she? And what has she been up to? I mean, isn't she my sister too, because you two are sisters?"

"Yeah… yeah you're right. That's cool. And she's probably sleeping. She does that a lot." Fionna replied.

Suddenly BMO came up. "Guys! Guys! I found the Ice Cream Man! Come with me!" They followed BMO to one of the sheds at the base of the tree house. Inside they found the Ice Cream Man, passed out.

"Impressive." Quint commented, while Fionna checked that he was okay. "Hey Fi." Quint said, an idea suddenly striking him.

"Yeah?"

"Does Cake like ice cream?"

"Yeah."

"A lot?"

"Yeah…"

Quint turned to face Fionna, and Fionna asked, "Are you serious? You think she did it?"

"Yep." Quint replied, deadpan. The two walked out of the shed (Ice Cream Man forgotten) and walked into the tree house, and up to Cake's bed. Sure enough, she was sleeping. Quint yelled boo loudly to wake her up, and she freaked out for a second before sleepily mumbling "What?"

"We found the Ice Cream Man in a shed." Quint said, and Cake pretended to be asleep. Quint stage-whispered to Fionna "Alright, since she's asleep, let's go dump all her ice cream." with a wink.

Cake suddenly burst up and confessed "Alright I did it! JUST NOT THE ICE CREAM! PLEASE!"

Quint grinned and just looked at the window and grinned. "See ya tomorrow." With that he opened their window and jumped out of it, landing unhurt on the ground below, and started strolling back towards his home.

-End-

**A/N: I've had a bad week. I'll try to be more consistent in the future.**

**LessThanThreexoxo: Haha IKR? Anyway, thanks for the feedback. It's two o'clock, so I don't have much to say anymore. Sorry.**

**FionnaxFirePrince: 1 vote**

**Everthing Else: 0**

**Please vote guys! I can't make this decision myself!**

**Peace out,**

**-hydraex2**


	6. Ch 6 Fighting Time

**A/N: So. Today I learned how to keep listening to music through ear buds while changing shirts. To anyone who wants to try I have this word of advice: Just pause the goddamn song.**

**Quint: That was thoroughly irrelevant.**

**Me: You're thoroughly irrelevant!**

**Quint: No, I'm one of the main characters. All you do is make cameo appearances in the author's notes and write this crap.**

**Me: *death glare***

**Quint: *doesn't give a crap***

**Me: Shut up.**

**Quint: That means I win.**

**Me: *walks away to write this***

**LessThanThreexoxo: Yeah, and you better remember little details like that. And on how casual they were, well Prince Gumball is used to it by now and Quint has the annoying (and hopefully comical) trait of overlooking the obvious.**

**Here goes.**

**Fighting Time with Fionna, Quinterus, and Marshall Lee**

So here's where we start. The night is young, and Fionna, Quinterus, and Marshall Lee are out strangling pixies.

"This is WEAK!" Quint shouted after a pixie bit him in an attempt to avoid being strangled. Quint tightened his grip and finished the bugger. "I've fought stuff that is WAY more deadly. This CANNOT be the best this land has to offer."

Marshall Lee glared at him, a little annoyed. It WAS his idea, after all. "What DO you fight anyway? You keep mentioning it. You're all 'Oh, I'm so badass; I fight giant monsters' and stuff."

"I _am_ so badass, and I _do_ fight monsters. And I fight the stuff in THIS journal." Quint replied, taking out his journal. He showed them pictures of fearsome beasts (and not so fearsome beasts).

"So can we go kill something, like, big? 'Cause these things are WEAK! I mean really…" Quint said.

"Sure." Marshall and Fionna said, shrugging.

"Sweet. Let's go!" Quint said excitedly. And so our rather violent trio went off to where monsters of greater danger existed (Quint punted a pixie on his way out). Soon they came across an ice giant troll terrorizing some villagers.

"Giant, stop terrorizing these-"Fionna cried heroically, only to be (rather rudely) cut off with a punch from the giant, who sent her flying back. Quint produced his small axe (read: tomahawk) from seemingly nowhere and proceeded to hack at the giant's hand. His blade got stuck, so when the giant swung his fist high in the air Quint lost his grip on the tomahawk and was sent flying into the air. Marshall Lee swung his axe bass at it, which did a considerable amount of damage. The ice giant then punched him and sent him flying, too. Quint landed with a solid thud.

He got up and grabbed his Bowgun while Fionna ran up to it and stabbed it from behind with her sword. It turned around trying to find Fionna, but she was clinging to her sword, which was stuck in the giant's back. So the giant turned all the way around and saw Quint aiming his Bowgun straight at the giant's chest. He fired and a shell came out of the Bowgun, spiraled, and hit the giant smack in the chest. Then it exploded and sent fire everywhere, blowing the ice giant to pieces and melting whatever was left.

Quint grinned and said "Now _that's_ what I call a fight. But is there anything tougher around here?"

"Totally!" Fionna said excitedly. "Let's go!"

Quint just grinned in response and slung his Bowgun over his shoulder. Then he remembered his tomahawk and went to go get it. Marshall Lee floated up and said "Man, a love of violence must run in your family, am I right?"

"Something like that." Fionna replied. Quint was trying to get his tomahawk out of the giant's hand, which happened to be unmelted. Unfortunately the axe had frozen in a little, so his efforts were in vain. "COME ON QUINT!" Fionna yelled impatiently. He finally succeeded in yanking his tomahawk out of the ice and fell over. He got up and walked over.

"I'm comin', jeez. Calm down." Quint said. Again our trio began walking across the land of Aaa. They fought some monsters and stuff, but none were really that tough. One rock monster just fell apart when Quint chucked his axe at its face (except the face didn't break, so it took him forever to get his axe out). Marshall Lee hissed at some demon another and it clutched its chest and fell over (wuss). Fionna tried that the next time she saw a demon, but it didn't work, so she just chanted something that caused the demon to burst into flames. When Quint and Marshall asked her about it, she just shrugged and said she had an awesome mom (I wish my mom could do that 0.o) (on second thought if she was that badass I would be in serious trouble… never mind).

They were quickly getting bored, though, because there were no real adventures to be had. And at one o'clock, Quint and Fionna were tired.

"Come on you guys! Maybe there's something else over there." Marshall Lee said desperately.

"Fine." Quint said, a little tiredly. "But then I'm going home."

As they walked over the hill, they saw something that took Quint's breath away. Marshall Lee and Fionna were just regular surprised, but Quint seemed absolutely in awe.

Before them, some couple hundred yards away, stood a mighty dragon. I'm talkin' (writin'?) a full blown, European dragon. Except it only had two legs. It had huge wings with numerous spikes and razor sharp talons on its feet. It had thick, leathery skin all over, which was dirt- brown, and covered in scales in most areas of the same color. Its head had two large, semi-intelligent eyes on either side. Its mouth was filled with teeth, which were again razor sharp. It stood tall and proud, a true marvel of nature (and radiation).

"A wyvern." Breathed Quint in awe. "Keep still. We should sneak up on this thing and kill it."

"But can't you kill it yourself? I thought you hunted that kind of stuff 'all the time'." Marshall Lee said smugly, smirk crossing his face.

Quint gave him a death glare (challenge considered). Then he said "I do it for a living. And yes I could kill that thing alone… maybe (challenge accepted)."

Quint crept away swiftly and silently without another word. He silently brought his Bowgun off his back and brought out his bullet case. He took one of the small little bullets and put it in to the Bowgun. A faint sound of sliding metal could be heard. The rounds for the Bowgun are made so that a little band going around the round is spun when it is pushed down the barrel, which causes the bullet to get bigger (technology's a marvel, isn't it?). He slid a couple more of the bullets in. He crept closer to the wyvern, until suddenly it turned around and bellowed at him, without warning. Quint seemed unfazed, however. He knew the tactics of the wyvern well, and he simply leveled his Bowgun and fired a bullet. It hit the wyvern's neck and created a tremendous explosion, which didn't even break skin (scale?) on the wyvern. It did, however, sending it hurtling backwards.

Quint steadied his aim as the creature started flapping, then flew low and fast towards Quint, trying to pick him up and carry him to dizzying heights, and then drop him. Quint just fired at its wing with another one of the incendiary rounds, causing it to spiral out of control and hit the ground. It skidded, hideously scarring the landscape before stopping. Quint approached it slowly, when it suddenly lashed out, clipping him with the bone of its wing and sending him flying. The wyvern tried to gore him with one of its talons, but Quint rolled out of the way, quickly jumped up, and grabbed his Bowgun. The wyvern tried to flatten him with its other foot. Quint sidestepped and the brought his Bowgun down on its foot like it was a club. Then he pointed it straight up and fired three shots, emptying his Bowgun. The wyvern happened to be roaring at him when he did this, and well… to put it lightly, primed incendiaries are **_NOT_** part of a healthy diet. It closed its mouth too late, and a series of booms could be heard, and with each one the wyvern's body bulged outward a little. Its eyes defocused and it collapsed on the ground.

"HA!" Quint yelled across the plain at Marshall Lee (challenge completed). Marshall Lee just held up his hands in mock surrender and grinned. Fionna cheered. They started walking over to him. Quint rubbed his shoulder where the wyvern had hit him and groaned. _That's gonna be one heck of a bruise._

"Wow. I didn't think you could actually do it." Marshall Lee said, evidently impressed.

"I got lucky. Usually I team up for that one." Quint said.

"Can you make me one of those?" Fionna asked, pointing at Quint's Bowgun.

"You want me to make you a Bowgun? That would be really difficult seeing as I don't have a forge, but I need to build one to make ammo anyway, so… help me build a forge and I'll make you a Bowgun. Deal?" Quint asked.

"Sure! How long will the forge take?" Fionna asked excitedly.

"A week, minimum." Quint replied, thinking.

"And the Bowgun?" Fionna asked, now a little put off.

"A month of intense, hard work with absolutely no distractions. Making this stuff is really serious biz." Quint said.

"Is there any way you can shorten it?" Fionna asked, now surprised.

"No." Quint replied flatly. "You can consider it your birthday gift, because these things are HARD to make. People who make weapons for us hunters spend the years upon years learning how."

"Wow. So were you adopted by, like, forging people?" Fionna asked.

"No. I invented the Bowgun." Quint replied (Marshall Lee had floated away by this point, finding this to be really boring).

"So who were you adopted by?" Fionna asked.

Quint's face hardened, and he walked away, mumbling something about 'tired' and 'late', but it really was incomprehensible (he was actually just making sounds and saying late and tired in the middle).

Fionna yawned and walked home, too tired to really care. For the moment.

**A/N: So… what is he hiding? Guess you'll have to read on to find out. Anyway, please follow, favorite, review, or something. It really means a lot to me. **

**Peace out**

** -hydraex2**


	7. Ch 7 Fighting Time 2

**A/N: Ok, so I was writing a super light-hearted, weird-ass, asinine (whatever the hell that even means) chapter, then I thought, FUCK IT. IT'S FIGHTING TIME AGAIN!**

**Quint, Fionna, and Marshall Lee: Woo!**

**Me: Gumball's coming along too!**

**Them: Awwww…**

**PG: What?**

**Fionna: Nothing!**

**Quint and ML: We were saying 'awwww' because we heard you had to come with us to kill stuff.**

**PG: Hey!**

**Me: Just kidding! GTFO, PG!**

**Fionna: You're not nice.**

**Me: Damn right! Now let me answer a review.**

**LessThanThreexoxo: I can see you like my story. Thanks for all the feedback. And no he did not adopt himself. Is that even possible? Who he did get adopted by… well, it's REALLY plot relevant, and it might not even be revealed in this story. I don't feel much like delving into Quint's past, because the story isn't about that. And his past is BIG. And dark.**

**Quint: Oh Glob.**

**Me: *laughs evilly as he goes to write this***

**A/N: Man, I'm easily distracted…**

**It's Hydra Fighting Time!**

It was another late night in Aaa, just a couple of days after the events of Quint's fight with the wyvern. The same trio was lying in the grass just staring at the stars.

"This is nice." Quint said quietly, smiling. "I've always loved staring at the stars." Unbidden, another memory of him staring at the stars flashed in front of his eyes. _Staring up at the stars, his vision began to fade. He saw darkness. He wondered if he was going to die._ _Everything faded to black._ Suddenly he felt as though he were rising suddenly, his consciousness being shot from the center of the Earth (he swore he could even see the chunk missing) towards his body at ridiculously high speeds. He slammed back into his body with a start and bolted upright, eyes wide.

"What's wrong?" Fionna asked.

"Nothing." Quint lied easily. He was used to keeping this secret with his life. Not even his closest friends knew his background.

"Dude, seriously?" Marshall Lee asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Quint asked, raising his own eyebrow.

"You've been having a seizure for the past minute." Marshall Lee replied flatly.

Quint swore under his breath. And I mean a really bad swear, from a foreign language. It was actually such an awful swear word, it put words like 'fuck' to shame. It's such an awful word that the people who came up with it never created a written version, because it was just THAT bad. In some places it's a capital offense to utter the word aloud. As such, he said it VERY quietly. But now you have an idea of what raced through his head at that particular moment. Or maybe I overelaborated and you didn't get, or worse you skipped this part entirely.

_Moving on,_ Quint had a stony look on his face, a blank mask that revealed nothing of the turmoil inside his mind. "It's from the Shadow Realm. Nightmares have chased me from that realm and stayed with me. It's nothing to worry about." Quint wasn't _exactly_ lying this time; they were usually confined to his dreams before his expedition. However, Quint's past had been… scarring at best, and he suffered permanent mental damage. His trait of overlooking the obvious? That's not always for kicks. But for the most part, he was fine. He wasn't a psychopathic killer, which was always a plus. Or so he reminded himself every once in a while.

"Maybe you should see a doctor…" Fionna suggested, her voice trailing off with uncertainty.

"I don't think it'll help. Now can we change the subject?" Quint asked, eager to shift the focus of attention away from himself.

Marshall Lee both gave him weird looks, but refrained from further pursuing the subject.

"Let's go kill stuff." Quint suggested, still a little distant, pondering what had just happened. _I guess that's just the nature of The Crawler. Not many who've met him can tell of the tale. I should consider myself lucky to be alive, even if I'm Glob knows how far from home._

While he was deep in thought, Fionna and ML had agreed to the idea and already started walking away, talking about a their next jam session, and, when they realized Quint was lost among the stars, about how he was kinda weird.

"I think Quint has issues." Marshall Lee said, lowering his voice.

"You saw what it was like in the Shadow Realm. I think it's incredible that he doesn't have poo brain from all that!" Fionna replied, voice lowered as well.

"I just think he's got issues." Marshall Lee said, deadpan this time. "Maybe it's genetic." He added with a smirk.

"What?" Fionna asked, confused. Not always the smartest, Marshall's insult flew right over head.

Meanwhile Quinterus's thoughts were in a deeper place. He longed for some action to take his mind off things. He remembered back to the old days, where he fought monsters solo, with nothing but his axe and his knife. Those were the days. Sure it was dangerous, but he didn't give a fuck at that point. Then he flashed back to one of the most dangerous creatures he had ever fought. Strangely enough, he hadn't been with the Guild at this time. Irony.

The Hydra. One of the most dangerous dragons to ever roam the face of the Earth. It had nearly killed him. He had just gotten lucky, and managed to survive the encounter. He came back and slew the beast later, again sheer luck on his side. And then he had fought another one. This beast was truly the most dangerous dragon he had ever encountered. Acid, fire, poison gas, ice, sharp objects, buffeting winds (which also smelled bad), and explosive fireballs were the weapons of this creature. Each of the original heads have this power, you see, but when you chop it off, two grow back in its place, each with the power of the original. Eventually you had quite a problem on your hands. It had the weapons of all the dragons, rolled into one. He didn't know why, but thinking about this beast almost made him long to fight one. Except that he didn't want to die, because he was fresh out of several of his larger explosives and had no fire on hand, a rarity for him.

A pyromaniac, that's Quint. He was a violent guy, and he loved putting together high powered explosives, and then firing them at deadly beasts. He was kind of a legend where he came from, a dragon fighter. With nothing but his axe, he killed dragons that slaughtered armies like they were nothing. Wrecked villages of one hundred people. He fought his foes with a determination, and never lost. People said there was not a creature alive that could best him. Quint, however, knew this to be far from true. Quint was well educated, and that was widely known. Why he fought instead of seeking a nobler, intellectual life was unknown. Many said he just loved to fight, that he was a violent man at heart and would be bored to death with any other profession. Some said that he did lead an intellectual life, he simply studied larger animals on the field and discovered and practiced more practical fighting styles. Others still said he was just very prideful; a glory seeker. All of these things are partially true, but they are not the reason he fights dragons and monsters. He has the same hero blood that runs through Fionna's veins, and he too has vowed to fight to defend the people from that which they cannot defend themselves against.

But enough on Quint's past for now, because I don't want to elaborate too much into this yet. The three of them were looking for trouble, or at least a suitable evil monster to fight. Suddenly, Quinterus put up his hand, signaling them to stop and be very quiet. The flapping of wings could be heard overhead, but they were very faint. Quint stared into the distance, and he could just make out wings. A dragon, definitely.

"Look," he said quietly "a dragon!"

"You wanna kill it?" Fionna asked.

"I may be out of explosives, but I can still do it." Quint replied. Marshall Lee and Quint took out their axes and Fionna drew her sword.

"Axes for the win!" Quint said and high-fived Marshall.

"Yeah!" He agreed, grinning.

"Axes are LAME! Swords are where it's AT!" Fionna yelled.

"No, axes!" Marshall Lee shouted back.

"Swords!"

"Axes!"

"Swords!"

"Axes!"

"Swords!"

"Axes!"

"Swor-"

Just then, the dragon roared, loudly. It was closer now, and it was flying straight towards them. It hovered above, them, and they suddenly realized how much _bigger_ it was up close.

"Wait a second, that's…" Quint said in wonder.

"What is it?" Fionna asked.

Then the dragon pulled into a steep dive and landed on the ground in front of them with a huge thump, sending dust everywhere.

"HYDRA!" Quint yelled, rapidly backing away. "Don't turn your back on the blasted thing!"

All three of them backed away from the hydra, weapons raised. One head snapped at Fionna, and without thinking, her warrior reflexes took over and she sliced its head off.

Big mistake.

Two more heads grew back in its place. Quint swore loudly. _What a day NOT to have fire, huh Quint?_ He thought to himself. Of course the traditional method of using fire wasn't the _only _method, but it was one of the best. The only other way to kill the thing was to kill the actual body, but that was much easier said than done, considering it had seven heads, and each one of its necks were long enough to reach the tip of its tail, even when it was fully extended.

"Let's kill this thing!" Fionna shouted enthusiastically, obviously not realizing the grave danger of the situation at hand.

"I think we're screwed…" Quint said loudly, dodging some acid. The hydra then began a full assault, launching fire, gas, acid, ice, winds, sharp tooth-like objects, and explosives everywhere. Fionna, Quint, and Marshall Lee were doing their best to avoid it all, but couldn't help but take hits. The one advantage that Fionna and Marshall Lee had was that the hydra seemed to direct most of its fury at Quinterus, who had had a lot more practice in dodging these things. Even so, all three were in peril.

Marshall Lee somehow flew straight through all of the heads, and with amazing dexterity, landed a hit on the hydra's actual body. It bellowed in rage and all of the heads turned towards Marshall Lee and started attacking him. This gave Fionna and Quint an opportunity to strike at it. Fionna was closer, however, and reached it first and immediately stabbed it in the heart, her sword plunging in all the way to the hilt. Unfortunately the hydra has a lot of covering over its heart, and the lungs are behind the heart, so Fionna's blow, far from being fatal, only served one purpose: to further enrage the beast. It swung all but two of its heads forward, growing ever wiser to their tricks. Most of them started attacking Quint, but two attacked Fionna. Marshall, Fi, and Quint were once again on the defensive, and slowly being pushed back.

Try as they might, the trio of the greatest warriors in all of Aaa could not best the hydra.

"We need to get out of here!" Quint yelled unnecessarily, as at this point they were all of the same opinion. _Think Quint, think!_ Quint's mind raced, trying to think of how to get away. He concluded nothing short of a miracle would deliver them through this, because he doubted his ability to kill this hydra. He had never fought one with explosives before, so it wasn't that he was thinking of, it was just that this hydra seemed wise to any of the tricks he employed. He knew all dragons were intelligent, they were too dangerous not to be, but this was a whole new level, almost as if someone had formally trained it. And then proceeded to send it after Quint.

_Trained hydras? If that's true, then I was totally right in thinking that this place is a lot stranger than anything I've seen before._ He hacked with his tomahawk straight at one of the hydra's faces, but did not sever it. He was pleased to see that work. It wouldn't regenerate because it wasn't severed, but it would get in the hydra's way. It still wasn't enough, even with all of them fighting their hardest. They were surely doomed to fail. As they fought, they couldn't help but sever a head every once in a while, whether it be by accident or because they had no choice.

Somehow he ended up back to back with Marshall, heads attacking from all sides.

"Can you fly out of here Marshall?" he asked, yelling over the incredible din of the combat.

"Maybe!" He screamed in response as it got louder.

"Can you take Fionna?" he screamed in reply, the noise now deafening.

"Yeah, but not you!" He yelled back.

"Go!" he yelled. "I'll be fine!" Man Quint's gotta get this lying thing under control. I mean, come on! That one was _really_ obvious.

Marshall obliged anyway, swiftly darting through heads, getting bitten a lot, and grabbed Fionna and yanked her away, flying as fast as he could. Fionna struggled, trying to get out of Marshall Lee's grasp.

"HE'LL DIE!" She screamed at Marshall. "HE'S MY ONLY BLOOD FAMILY AND YOU'RE LEAVING HIM TO DIE!"

Marshall just grimaced, knowing this was all true, and continued to fly, and continued to hold on to Fionna as she screamed horrible things at him. (**A/N: Is Marshall getting OOC? Can he even get OOC seeing as he's never had a speaking part? I dunno, but I'll cut back on this violence next chapter and build up relationships between people and stuff like that.**)

Quint faced the hydra down, axe in hand as its heads slowly withdrew. The hydra was waiting for him to turn and run. If he did, as soon as he showed his back, death was a certainty. Suddenly Quint was struck with an idea. He rushed up to the hydra at full sprint, hacking at heads left and right as they attacked him, not caring if he severed them. If this failed, he was certainly doomed. As he reached the torso he flipped out his knife. Time seemed to slow down in that instant. The six-inch, curved, wicked sharp blade glinted from the fire behind Quint as he brought it up straight into the wound Fionna had made with her sword. He plunged his arm all the way up through that hole, knife in hand. His blade managed to go through the hydra's heart. He hastily pulled his arm, and of course his precious knife from the hydra so he would not be crushed when it fell. He quickly ran out, slashing with his knife and hacking with his axe all the way. At this point all of the heads Quint had made on his way in had become an unintentional advantage, as the massive amount of heads required more oxygen, which could not be obtained because the heart did not beat, so blood couldn't carry oxygen to them. As such, the movements of the heads were slowed, and when he hacked a head off, it was very slow to regrow. Too slow, in fact because as he turned around to backpedal away, (he still knew it could kill him if it could get at his back) he saw it fall with a colossal thud.

He could have cried in relief. Not many people who have seen a hydra have lived to tell the tale. He had not only seen, but killed three hydras now. He couldn't believe, his luck, he had expected to die.

Still in a state of numb shock, he trudged back to Marshall Lee's house, because he figured Fionna and Marshall Lee would be there, the latter probably very beat up by the former. When he opened the door, he saw Fionna look up, and saw a look of joy spread across her face. He saw a beat up Marshall sitting in the corner a look of wonder in his eyes. (Man, he was REALLY beat up. Don't piss off Fionna!)

"I'm not killing stuff with you guys anymore. What else do you guys do for fun around here?" Quint asked tiredly.

"And where is the bloody shower?"

**A/N: Not much to say here except deepest apologies for the long time between this update and the last. Also, I have close to 400 views (holy shit!) and only 5 reviews. Come on people, don't be shy!**

**Peace out,**

**-hydraex2**


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